WWE has announced four more competitors for The Mae Young Classic – WWE NXT Superstar and former American Ninja Warrior competitor Kacy Catanzaro, Japanese women’s star Io Shirai, Canadian indie veteran Nicole Matthews and current PROGRESS Women’s World Champion Jinny, who is also working the WWE NXT UK brand.

These four competitors join former WWE Divas Champion Kaitlyn and NXT Superstar Rhea Ripley as confirmed MYC entrants. It was also reported this week that Vernice Gabriel from The Philippines has been booked for the tournament, which tapes in early August to air later this Summer on the WWE Network.

Below is WWE’s announcement on the 4 new competitors:

Mae Young Classic field widens with addition of international standouts, “American Ninja Warrior” pioneerThree international standouts — Japanese phenom Io Shirai, Canadian ring veteran Nicole Matthews and British up-and-comer Jinny — and former “American Ninja Warrior” competitor Kacy Catanzaro are the latest competitors confirmed for this summer’s Mae Young Classic 2018.

Shirai was recently introduced as WWE’s newest signee at a Live Event in Tokyo. One of the most decorated wrestlers in the modern history of Japan, “The Genius of the Sky” has captured countless titles in her home country and was named the top women’s wrestler for the past three years by Tokyo Sports, a national newspaper. Shirai is renowned for her incredible suplexes and high-flying attacks.

Perhaps best known for her groundbreaking performances on “American Ninja Warrior,” Catanzaro —who was recruited into the WWE Performance Center earlier this year — looks to make an impact in her WWE Network in-ring debut. Though she may not have a wealth of wrestling experience, Catanzaro has been earmarked as a prospect to watch, given her otherworldly athletic abilities. A former Division I gymnast, she was the first woman to scale “American Ninja Warrior’s” “warped wall” and has twice been listed on Sports Illustrated’s “Fittest 50” list of the world’s best female athletes.

A 12-year ring veteran from Vancouver, Matthews has established her name around the globe, having competed in Canada, the United States, England, Japan and Australia. Matthews has faced the likes of Becky Lynch, Asukaand WWE Performance Center trainer Sara Amato. She boasts an aggressive, bullying style of wrestling and likes to finish opponents with a devastating rolling cutter she calls the “Vancouver Maneuver.”

Rounding out this set of competitors is London’s Jinny. Less than three years into her career, Jinny journeyed into a WWE ring for the first time at the 2017 WrestleMania Axxess. Known for her hard-hitting style inside the ring, Jinny is the reigning women’s champion of the U.K.-based PROGRESS Wrestling and holds the distinction of being the first female graduate of PROGRESS’s wrestling school.

New Impact Wrestling Knockouts champion Laurel Van Ness was recently interviewed by The Orlando Sentinel, who was promoting the Impact television tapings from January 10-15. During the interview, Laurel revealed that her contract with Impact Wrestling expires in June of 2018. Below are some highlights:

Winning the Impact Knockouts title:

“I’m definitely proud. It’s something I worked really hard for. For me, a couple of things bring me down to earth. Just because I have the belt doesn’t mean I’m the best in the world – it means the company trusts me enough and has faith in my ability. They know I’ll bring 110 percent every time. So I’m nervous but excited to show there’s a reason I have this.”

Recent reports that she requested her release from Impact Wrestling:

“Nothing fazes me anymore. That Knockouts locker room is my constant. We focus on us, our friendships and our match quality and we can’t think about anything else. Our job is to put on the best show possible for you, and that’s what we want.”

Laurel Van Ness spoke with McMahonsplaining, The With Spandex Podcast on a number of wrestling topics. Here are some of the highlights via Uproxx:

The origin and evolution of her character in Impact Wrestling:

“Well, everyone asks me that. It started out basically where, yes, when I was left at the altar, everything that happened after I was left at the altar, so me dropping down to my knees and being the most dramatic human in the world, that was me. Then when I got to the back, everyone was leaving, that was the last day of tapings, and Dutch [Mantel] came up and said, ‘I just want you to cut a quick promo. We don’t know if we’re gonna use it. You’re gonna sit, and you’re gonna cry.’ So as I was doing this promo, drinking champagne, which was real champagne, it was like my second bottle of champagne.

Oh yeah. I’m drinking the champagne, and he’s kind of shouting ideas at me, like, ‘Oh, sing. Sing ‘The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow.’ Do you know that song?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, sure.’ He’s like, ‘Act crazier. One more take, but do it even crazier.’ When that aired, it kind of took off in this weird way I never thought it would. So then when I came back for the next set of tapings they were like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna roll with this crazy bride. I think we’ll keep you in the dress.’ I was like, ‘Oh, that’s cool.’

From there on it was them saying to me, ‘Do whatever you want and be as crazy as you want, and hopefully we have to tell you to dial it down.’ So every time I went out there I did something crazier. You know, more outlandish than the last time I went out there. But I can’t just say it was only me, because what I loved about Laurel, and I still love about Laurel is that every time I was kind of going through a match someone random in the locker room, it could have been Dutch, it could have been Abyss, it could have been EC3 or Spud. Random people have always had ideas. One idea, Pat Kenney was like, ‘Oh, you should do an airplane around Kong.’ I was like, ‘Sure. Done.’ He said that as I walking out, and then that became Laurel’s thing.

Someone else was like, ‘Hey, I saw this funny spot where you take the girl down, and then you pin her like Cameron from WWE. Pin her on her stomach, and you think that that’s real.’ So then I’m like, ‘Easy. I’ll do that,’ as I’m going out there again. And the next time it’s like, ‘Oh, you should get tangled up in the ropes, that’s funny. And then you should get hit with this move,’ and I’m like, ‘Okay. Sure.’ So it’s kind of like this weird character where it doesn’t matter what you tell me to do, I can go out and do it because I am the most unexpected kind of random character. Nothing that I do you question and be like, ‘Wait. Why?’ You know what I mean? Because it’s fun like that.”

Her smudged makeup look:

“Oh my gosh. It’s my favorite thing ever. It’s so funny, because I go in in the morning and I get my makeup done. I’m looking good, I take selfies. Then they’re like, ‘Okay, Chelsea. You’re on in three matches,’ and I’m just like [smearing] makeup all over my face. My lipstick’s going everywhere, and smudging my makeup.”

Winning the Impact Knockouts Championship:

“It’s crazy, isn’t it? It’s so crazy. Bound for Glory week was such a whirlwind. With it being filmed in Canada, it was really exciting for me. Although it was on the East Coast and I’m from the West Coast, still felt like I was kind of in my hometown, I don’t know. It felt like this wrestling world had come full circle, and for it to come full circle and then for them to be putting the title on me was also really overwhelming. I wrestle Rosemary for the title, which you’ll have seen by now I guess. She could tell you the same thing, and Gail would say the same thing. They told me three times that I was winning that match. I didn’t realize that that match was the finals at the tournament for the title.”

The Singh Brothers (Samir and Sunil) spoke with Sportskeeda on a number of wrestling topics. Here are some of the highlights:

Getting beat up by Jinder Mahal:

“We deserved it! We deserved it. We let him down! 2-on-1 against AJ Styles; we had a huge opportunity. AJ is one of the best wrestlers in the world, probably in the last few decades. He truly is Phenomenal, and it was an opportunity of a lifetime. And we let The Maharaja down. And he [Mahal] had every right to put us in our place for that. Lesson learned, brother. Lesson learned.”

“Yes. We’re very lucky. When we started in NXT, the (WWE) Performance Center, Shawn Michaels had just moved. And we kind of gravitated towards him, and he took a liking to us. I think he saw a lot of Marty [Jannetty] and Shawn in us. Because we were known as ‘The Bollywood Boys’ at that time. Even our gear was a lot like ‘The Rockers’ with the tassels and the bright colors. A lot of our tag team moves were like The Rockers, so he took a liking to us. And I would say Shawn really helped us get to this point. And the cool thing is that he’s the greatest of all time, in our humble opinion. So, to have him there and pick his brain, and ask him questions—We’re like, ‘Hey, what do we do here?’, ‘What do we do there?’. And even to this day, he’s still willing to [help].”

Breaking out and their goal as a tag team:

“Our goal since we were kids was to one day become WWE Tag Team Champions. It would be great to be the first ever WWE Indian-born Tag Team Champions. Jinder was the first WWE Champion — Indian-born. So, that could be a great historic moment for India. Absolutely, the goal is to one day become WWE Tag Team Champions, and the only way that happens is when you start wrestling as a tag team. If that opportunity comes up, great, but right now our focus, our main priority is making sure Jinder becomes two-time WWE Champion.”

Laurel Van Ness spoke with Metro on a number of wrestling topics. Here are some of the highlights:

Making a living as full-time indie wrestler:

“It’s so amazing that to an extent we can compete with WWE. They’re always going to have the mainstream audience, but right now we’ve got so much attention. There is a crazy spotlight on indie wrestling, and that’s amazing because it’s what we love to do, and a lot of us are doing it for a living. We’re trying to make money and entertain people, and for that to be our sole career. It’s crazy how things have changed and we’re now able to do that without having to work second and third jobs. This isn’t just a hobby, this is our life.”

Fans yelling sexist comments:

“One that sticks out to me was when I was wrestling Nicole Matthews in Vancouver. I was very new and there was some very sexual comments made by a couple of drunk fans. As we were wrestling, Nicole stopped and said something to them. It did the trick, they stopped what they were saying. There’s such a fine line between letting it affect you, but staying silent about it. I don’t think it’s right to yell at a female like that, it is our place of work and we’re trying to entertain you. Freedom of speech, sure, but to an extent – you have to be respectful, we are humans and we’re working essentially for you. I do have a time when I hear things in the ring, but me personally I try to ignore it because I find a lot of people are trying to get your attention by screaming profanities or saying sexual things towards women. But I have a limit as much as anyone else, and if someone did cross that line, I think I would have to say something at the time.”

When fans chant “Zack Ryder” (her boyfriend) during a match:

“This is very different from the sexual comments, but another thing that makes me frustrated, and I get this a lot, is that I do get a lot of people doing my boyfriends chants at me. To me, that is very disrespectful and I don’t think people understand that. I have nothing to do with my boyfriend when I step into the ring. I’m not defined by my relationship or who my boyfriend is or where he works. So it’s very disrespectful when a fan does his chants because he’s not putting in the work in that ring, I am, so sometimes when people do the Zack Ryder chants it really affects me, and I have said some things to people. You have to figure out, do they want your attention? And if they do, don’t give it to them, do not give them what they want.”

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Former ROH World Champion Kyle O’Reilly made his WWE debut at the NXT tapings on Wednesday night at Full Sail University.

Facing Aleister Black in singles action, the Canadian didn’t undergo a name change (ironically unlike his opponent, who was switched from Tommy End upon signing a WWE contract) and was simply billed as Kyle O’Reilly. There was even a huge graphic emblazoned on the tron to confirm the O’Reilly name is here to stay.

There had been rumours that O’Reilly was set to sign with WWE for a few months, but this was his first appearance for the company. His NXT debut comes hot on the heels of his former tag-team partner Bobby Fish also losing to Black on TV, so WWE may be tempted to use the pair as a team.

Collectively known as reDRagon, Fish and O’Reilly held the ROH Tag-Team Titles on 3 separate occasions and are 2-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Champs. In addition, the team also won the 2014 Super Junior Tag-Team Tournament in NJPW.

O’Reilly’s first match for WWE is scheduled to air on the August 2 episode of NXT.

Kyle O’Reilly recently spoke with Rolling Stone discussing his ROH run and what his 2017 may look like. Here are some of the highlights:

Status with Ring of Honor:

“As of right now, we don’t really have anything confirmed. To be honest, I don’t know what the future for Kyle O’Reilly holds. I’m looking at taking a bit of time away and re-evaluating things. 2017 will mark 12 years in the business for me. It has taken its toll. Traveling, plus being a Type-One diabetic, it’s taken a toll on my health. I’m kind of just needing a bit of a break to reassess my future and weigh my options. Never say never though, I’m certainly not definitely done with Ring of Honor, but I’m just going to see what comes my way and remain optimistic.”

Potentially working in WWE/NXT:

“There isn’t anyone who gets into this business without dreams and visions of having that Wrestlemania moment. That’s what’s driven me to pursue wrestling to this degree, overall. It’s naive to think anything else. Of course if that opportunity was to come around, then I would strongly, strongly, consider it. That being said, I don’t have any concrete plans moving forward. But never say never. Ideally I would love that if it worked out. All I ever wanted was to create art and be the best pro wrestler that I can be. So I need to find an environment that is conducive to that and that will allow me to be that performer. You never know what could happen in WWE. I could be slapped with a gimmick that I’m a nanny for all I know. It is nice to see that they’ve started to recognize past achievements in wrestling. It puts you above where a lot of other people are starting. It’s a nice perk. But I just want to go where I’m appreciated, and whether that’s WWE, Japan or the independents, that remains to be seen.”

What makes Japan special:

“Just their appreciation for pro wrestling. Pro wrestlers are revered, and respected. In the newspapers, there’s baseball results, and then there’s the wrestling results. It’s treated so much differently than it is in the United States. Not to say that American fans aren’t absolute amazing. They’re great, and wrestling in the United States is awesome. And of course there’s great money wrestling in the States. It’s just that there’s something different about wrestling in Japan. I’m not sure that everyone would attest to that, maybe it’s just having the martial-arts based style makes it easier for me. It just seems magical. You watch the old tapes of Japanese wrestling, and something about it feels different.”